mooreforthemoney

Good Employment News for CPAs & Accountants

2010-10-26T14:17:00.003-04:00

I read some good employment news for CPAs and Accountants here and here. Apparently, Certified Public Accountant is one of the Top 10 Best Jobs in America according to CNN Money. In addition, accounting and finance professionals are expected to see an uptick in hiring and salaries in the coming year.

Crystal Cathedral Files for Bankruptcy

2010-10-19T10:13:00.005-04:00

I just read this article about the Crystal Cathedral filing for bankruptcy in California. It was a sad reminder to me that even churches aren't exempt from the pitfalls of debt. Our current economic reality is causing many in our society from governments to businesses to individuals to churches to struggle with past obligations.

When we borrow money, we presume on the future. We presume that future cash inflows will cover cash outflows. We presume that future property values will be higher than present values. We presume that the economic future will always be as good or better than the present. When the future doesn't turn out like we presumed, then debt begins to affect our lives, our ministries, our businesses, our country, our future.

Although it may not be realistic to completely avoid debt (each of us has to make our own determination), I think we have to carefully consider the pitfalls before we enter debt obligations. We should include the worst case scenario in our assessment of the future. If we aren't careful our debt will control our future.

Recent Change to Cell Phone Rules

2010-10-05T08:40:00.001-04:00

I read this today. A new rule included in a recently enacted small business tax relief act may change the way that churches handle cell phones provided to staff. The article suggests awaiting further guidance from the IRS before altering policies on cell phones.

8 Federal Issues for Churches to Watch

2010-10-04T10:31:00.003-04:00

Just read this article about 8 federal issues for churches to watch. Included items are:

Pastor Housing Allowance
Health Care Reform
Expiring Tax Deductions
Worker Classification
Fraud

Some of it is speculation right now, but some is reality. It's worth keeping an eye on it.

More Health Care Reform Learning

2010-09-24T10:38:00.003-04:00

I attended a seminar on the Payment Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 yesterday. It was offered by our benefits provider The Healy Group and was very informative. If you have the opportunity to attend a seminar to help explain what's contained in the 2,400 page bill, I recommend it. Some things I learned:

To keep health insurance coverage "as is" or "grandfathered" the coverage as of March 23, 2010 must be documented. In addition all changes to the plan after that date must also be documented. The reason is that there are several common changes that will cause a plan to lose "grandfathered" status like cutting or reducing benefits, significantly raising coinsurance, co-payments, deductibles, lowering employer contributions, and changing insurance carriers.
For plan years after September 2010, insurers are no longer able to refuse or limit coverage for children with pre-existing conditions. Children up to age 26 will be allowed to stay on their parents' insurance plan.
A new tax of 10% was added to tanning services starting July 2010.
As of June 2010 a new high-risk pool for people with pre-existing conditions who haven't had insurance for at least 6 months was created.
There is a small business tax credit available for small businesses.
Starting in 2011, over the counter drugs like aspirin or claritin will no longer be reimburseable from an HSA/FSA/HRA account.
In 2011, The excise tax on non-qualified distributions from an HSA increases from 10% to 20%.
In 2011, Employers are required to report on Form W-2 the aggregate cost of health coverage provided to employees in 2011.

New 1099 Rules in Health Care Legislation

2010-09-21T12:29:00.002-04:00

I may be behind the curve, but I just learned about this in a class I attended yesterday. It seems that there are new 1099 reporting rules buried in the 2,400 page health care legislation that was passed earlier this year.

These new 1099 rules, if not repealed, will go into effect in January 1, 2012 and will require reporting payments of more that $600 to all vendors not just independent contractors. This will also require collecting TINs from all vendors.

The net effect will be that it will require more time, cost, and effort to collect TINs from all vendors as well as more time and effort preparing 1099s. For example, we normally do a handful of 1099s for independent contractors each year. After 2012, we'll have to prepare several hundred 1099s each year.

Health Insurance Costs Increasing?

2010-09-10T09:02:00.005-04:00

I've read a couple of articles like this one and this one recently. They all suggest that health insurance costs will rise for individuals and small businesses as a result of the recently enacted health care reform.

Further evidence of this potential increase in costs was the 26% rate increase that our insurance provider quoted us to renew our insurance coverage this year. Additionally, they refused to negotiate any rate relief with us. To be fair, their reason for the increase was our unusually high loss ratio - not health care reform. Needless to say, whatever the reason, we're shopping for a new insurance provider again this year.

Thought I'd put this out there as a heads up for any churches or small businesses with less than 100 employees.

Giving Webinar Today at Noon

2010-09-02T10:05:00.006-04:00

I'll be participating in this webinar with Anthony Coppage from Fellowship Tech and Casey Graham from the Change Group. Should be an interesting discussion.

This is a Big Problem!

2010-08-27T07:48:00.012-04:00

Ever seen the US DEBT CLOCK? WOW! This is a problem!

In fact, Secretary of State Hilliary Clinton, said recently that it has eroded our ability to "chart our own destiny" and poses a "national security threat". That makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

My Observations from looking at the Debt Clock:

Savings Per Citizen: $1,033.00 (Really? Guess everyone has an emergency fund)

Personal Debt per Citizen: $52,407.00 (That explains the savings)

National Debt per Taxpayer: $120,577.00

Unfunded Liability per Citizen: $355,217.00 (Sure...Social Security and Medicare are solvent)

US Total Debt per Citizen: $665,047.00 (Guess I better update my balance sheet)

This is unsustainable. We've got to stop spending more than we earn from the upper echelons of government down to each and every individual. Our freedom is at stake.

Interesting Way to Filter Resumes

2010-08-26T10:14:00.000-04:00

Read this article about filtering resumes. Found it intersting.

Exchanging Credit Card Fees - Ineffective Legislation

2010-07-23T09:47:00.002-04:00

I just read this article that talks about old credit card fees that are making a comeback and new fees that are being assessed as a result of the New Credit Card Rules that begin on August 22.

The new rules put limits on late fees and inactivity fees along with some other rules and regulations. So, what do the credit card companies do? They just return to charging annual fees, cash advance fees, and set up fees along with foreign transaction fees, paper statement fees, and reward redemption and recovery fees.

So what is the lesson? Well, the borrower is slave to the lender - always has been and always will be. Card holders can't win against credit card companies. They are in business to make money. They'll make it one way or another. The only way to beat credit card fees and charges is to stop using credit cards. Legislation that limits a businesses ability to make money rarely works. It usually addresses a problem that is the result of not enforcing previous legislation and creates problems that will require future legislation while creating additional complexities and costs for consumers.

GP 2010 - On the Way

2010-06-17T15:14:00.002-04:00

We're upgrading to Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains) 2010 today. I'm pretty excited about it. Yes only an accountant can get excited about accounting software. This version is supposed to have some pretty cool collaboration tools, reporting tools, and workflow efficiencies built in. I'm looking forward to figuring out how to use them.

Struggling Cities Eye Taxes, Fees for Churches

2010-06-07T16:46:00.007-04:00

That headline to this article caught my eye. What!? Tax churches! Tax money that was already taxed before the donors gave it? Charge fees per member? That'll never happen in America...Right?

From the article:

"As local governments desperately seek ways to cover budget deficits, the debate about taxing nonprofits and churches will only heat up"

“With federal, state, and local budgetary shortfalls in abundance, we should expect to see increasing pressure on churches and other charities to help bridge the funding gap,” Busby says. “For example, a proposal was recently made and defeated in New Jersey to tax charities $100 per employee per year. Encroachment on property tax exemptions will likely be an area where government will become the most aggressive.”

This doesn't surprise me. Common sense tells me that we can't possibly cover the federal, state, and local obligations that our governments have indebted us to (Can you say hundreds of trillions?). My guess is that, unless something drastically changes in our governments' spending habits, Struggling Cities, States, and United States will be eying taxes and fees on just about everything and everyone in the very near future.

Is your church ready to "help bridge the (government) funding gap"?

Eye Opening Meal Portion Sizes

2010-06-02T17:15:00.002-04:00

I just read this post regarding Meal Portion Sizes. It was very eye opening. Made me realize that I probably eat 2 to 3 times the normal portion size at most meals. Wow.

Response To Giving Kiosk Inquiry

2010-05-20T16:34:00.001-04:00

We just started using the kiosks last fall. So, we don’t even have a full year in yet. Our intent when we implemented the kiosks was to offer people who don’t carry cash or check the ability to give while they’re in the building and to cover the cost of the machines in the first year. I’d say that we’ve satisfied our intent.

Here’s what I can tell you regarding the kiosks. Success with the kiosks depends a lot on your church culture, how the kiosks are rolled out to your congregation, and where the kiosks are placed.

For the 4 months from September through December 2009, we had 63 new General Offering donors give on the kiosks. Their first donations totaled $9,600 with an average gift of $152. These 63 donors subsequently gave $22,000 by the end of the year. Overall we had 226 new donors to the General Offering during the September thru December period. Thus 28% of our new donors came through the kiosk during that period. We took in a total of $95,500 in General offerings on the kiosks in 4 months for an average of $23,900/mo.

This year we’ve had 17 new General Offering donors giving over $1,000 to date. Total new General Offering Donors to date is 143. So, 12% of our new General Offering donors this year came through the kiosk. We’ve taken in $133,880 in General Offerings on the kiosks which is around $30,000/mo.

Fees for the transactions are consistently around 3% of what was given.

For the Period September thru December 2009, the average General Offering donation on the kiosk was $76. For the current year the average is $85 per gift.

Fellowship Tech Dynamic Church 10

2010-05-14T10:38:00.000-04:00

I'm at the DC 10 conference this week. I'm pretty excited about some
stuff they have coming over the next few years. Here are some of
the things I'm excited about:

1. Opening the Giving API which will lead to Remote Deposit Capture
and Mobile Giving.

2. New Report Writer. Got a sneak preview this morning. It's going
to be sweet. Ad Hoc reporting, graphs and charts, dashboards, and a
lot of user design capability.

3. Leann will like this. Mass update for Contributions.

Lots of good stuff on the way. It's really hard to be patient and
wait for it to come.

Jason Powell is a Rock Star

2010-05-13T16:04:00.001-04:00

I''m glad to be part of the jpowell posse at DC 10. He's a rock star
here. This is a photo of him on the F1 Champion Panel. He was awesome.

Sent from my iPhone

The Next Step for The Church

2010-04-29T08:26:00.002-04:00

I was reading this article that Bob forwarded to me and it reminded me why we're reading this book as a staff

As we read we're discussing how the church reaches the vast majority of people who don't or won't come to church. How do we reach those people who are OK with spirtuality, God, and Jesus, but not OK with The Church. It's an interesting read and an interesting conversation.

Primary Season is Coming

2010-04-28T16:23:00.003-04:00

Primary elections are just around the corner here in Indiana. I'm busy researching the candidates so that I can make an informed decision when I enter that booth and exercise my right to vote. As a Christian, I believe its my responsibility to be the best citizen I can be. It starts with making informed votes.

Vacation, Space Shuttle Launch, Internal Control

2010-04-15T08:50:00.004-04:00

What do they have in common? Read on to find out.

I recently had the opportunity to vacation in Orlando, Florida. What a week! Great weather and great fun.

The highlight for me was getting to see a Space Shuttle launch. I love things with big motors like muscle cars, race cars, jet planes, and the space shuttle. I've always wanted to see a launch. We missed it by a day or two the last time we were in Orlando. Not this year. This year, along with what seemed to be 8,000,000 others, we made it to the launch and it was awesome! Check out the video below from my Canon Powershot S3IS. Sorry about the injustice the camera work does to this event as well as the cheesy commentary.

What does all of this have to do with Internal control you ask? Well, in addition to being a healthy thing to do, we think that taking one full week of vacation is an important internal control for our Finance Department. Even though it's sometimes difficult to leave for a full week and let that work pile up. It's also helpful to take a week away from work to diffuse any suspicion that someone is doing something fraudulent and can't leave for a week lest their scheme is discovered.

I recommend requiring all Finance Staff to take a full week of vacation each year as a healthy internal control for any organization.

One of The Greatest Golf Shots I've Seen

2010-04-13T08:11:00.005-04:00

This is one of the greatest golf shots I've ever seen!! I was so amazed, I watched it several times in a row on my DVR. This shot took a huge amount of courage to hit. The difficulty of this shot is off the charts. This is a slightly closed 6 Iron (to produce lower, draw trajectory and longer distance) from 207 yards, off the pine needles, through a 4 ft gap in the trees, over a creek, and to within 4 ft. of the hole, for an eagle try...with the lead in The Masters. With the number of really small things that could have made this shot a disaster, It was executed perfectly.

A lot of people, including me, questioned Phil's choice of driver on 18 in 2006 at The U.S. Open at Winged Foot. A lot of people would have questioned this choice as well if it hadn't been executed perfectly. However, that's the type of risk/reward that leads to a win. Congratulations to Phil on an amazing shot and a great win.

I'm Proud of Our Volunteers!

2010-03-24T09:25:00.003-04:00

I want to take a minute to brag on our finance volunteers here at GCC. THEY"RE AWESOME! They work behind the scenes week in and week out to help us do all kinds of things like: count and process our weekly offerings, process our weekly non-contribution deposits, track the checks we receive in the mail, post journal entries, and on and on. They are invaluable.

In addition to helping with these tasks, they also provide a key internal control procedure by helping us separate duties between control over assets (cash) and control over the accounting system. I can't thank them enough.

All of these folks take great pride in their work and they are extremely accurate. We recently completed our annual financial audit. Our auditors were stunned by how accurately our teams do their work. They couldn't believe how much of the paperwork prepared by the volunteers agreed to our bank records. They actually asked if the staff prepared the paperwork after the bank processed deposits. I just told them that we don't have to do that. Our volunteers do great work. Way to go team!

I'm so grateful that these folks use and that we give them the opportunity to use their God-given talents to help us advace the Kingdom of Christ here at GCC.

Interest Rates Headed Higher?

2010-03-17T06:18:00.000-04:00

I don't know for sure, but this article made it sound like an issue of when not if. Looks like the era of super low interest rates may be nearing it's end.

Need to Know - Donations for Haiti Relief

2010-03-16T07:07:00.001-04:00

I read this article about the new tax laws related to Haiti earthquake relief. I'm considering the best course of action for GCC. If your church took donations for Haiti Earthquake relief you may want to read the article and consider the best course of action for your church.

Are there Opportunities for Software Savings?

2010-03-15T10:45:00.002-04:00

I read this article today. It reminded me of some of the decisions that we've made recently to save on software and software services.

We switched payroll providers and save thousands of dollars per year.
We assessed our accounting system needs and made some changes to our accouting software which saved us thousands of dollars as well.

I agree with the article. If you need to find ways to save money, it's a good time to review software costs to see if you're paying for software you no longer need.

I also was intrigued by this quote from the article:

"Also, companies are more likely to have software that is not a good fit for its intended users — and thus is underutilized — when the finance department drives purchase decisions, contends Brush. That's because when finance is in control, the decision often comes down to price, not utility, she says."

This is why, around GCC, the finance team doesn't make decisions about purchases for other departments. We're not in a position to know what's best for their ministry. The ministry team leaders are in a much better position to partner with our Tech Ops team and decide what the best solution for the best value is for their needs.

Guardrails & Rumble Strips

2010-02-25T07:35:00.004-05:00

Our pastor, Mark gave a brilliant message this last weekend about parenting. In the message, he made a great analogy about guardrails and rumble strips. On the road, they keep us in our lane and from veering off course or over the edge. When applied to our lives, they are boundaries that keep us well on our path and keep us from dancing on the edge of disaster.

Although Mark was talking about parenting, I thought about some of the guardrails and rumble strips that we have in our financial lives that keep us from going over the financial cliff. Here are a few that crossed my mind:

Emergency or Rainy Day Fund - This fund is money that is saved for emergencies. $1,000 is a great starting point, but it should grow to several months worth of expenses. This fund provides payment for car repairs or for roof repairs or for expenses in the case of lost income. It guards against using debt to fund emergency expenses.
Insurance - Auto, home, health and life insurance guard against catastrophic loss caused by events that can't be predicted or controlled. These are important safeguards.
A will - An important safeguard against the inappropriate and unwanted treatement of children, life insurance, and other assets when someone dies. Parents have a responsibility to their children to have a will in place. My wife and I don't have a lot of money, but we do have children, life insurance, and a will. We want to control what happens to those things if something happens to us.
A Budget or Spending Plan - Guards against ending up in a financial crisis by requiring a plan for each dollar that is earned and disallowing expenses to be greater than income. Helps to safeguard against using debt to fund expenses.
Long Term Financial Plan and Investing - Another safeguard against using debt to fund future expenses. Guards against a future with no plan and no money to fund it. It is each individual's responsibility to plan for and fund his or her future - no one else's.
Debit Cards - Help Guard against using credit card debt while providing the ease of use and convenience of a credit card.

Giving Kiosk Update

2010-02-11T16:52:00.002-05:00

I was finally able to determine how many people gave for the first time on our giving kiosks.

During the 4 months we used the kiosks in 2009, we had 69 people give for the first time on the kiosks. In total, those 69 people subsequently gave $15,225 through the end of 2009.

Self Control & Financial Peace

2010-02-09T08:22:00.007-05:00

This past weekend at GCC was a Financial Freedom weekend. We had the opportunity to hear from one of the great Personal Finance Professors of our time - Dave Ramsey. I love Dave. He has an incredible talent for teaching about personal finance in a clear, concise, and entertaining way. Dave said these things that stuck with me:

All of our money is God's. We're managers or stewards.
The Borrower is Slave to the Lender (Prov. 22:7) We've got to reduce and eliminate debt in our lives. I believe this is becoming increasingly more urgent. What if the people of God had no payments? Would the Kingdom of God blossom in a different way?
Have a written plan. Develop a budget and stick to it. This is essential to success.
"Act your Wage." Live within your means. Spend less than you earn. Prov. 21:20 A foolish man devours all he has. 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. There is no margin.
"Save for a rainy day." "I'm positive it's going to rain." There is going to be trouble in your life. Save up an emergency fund to prepare for that trouble in advance.
Give. The tithe is the minimum. Givers ROCK. Giving changes your life. Giving is a natural by-product of 1-5 above. It really gets fun when you become an awsome, lavish, luxurious giver.

So, why doesn't everyone do this? Why isn't everyone physically fit? Dave said that if he could get control of the person in the mirror, he could be skinny and rich. Mark said it starts with self-control. He cited 2 Peter 1:2-12 and specifically verse 6. Add to knowledge self-control.

We're offering an opportunity here at GCC to get knowledge and to encourage self-control through the Financial Peace University course that starts Monday, Feb. 22. Find out more here.

Super Bowl XLIV

2010-02-08T08:35:00.002-05:00

Well, it was a disappointing loss for my Colts last night. Both teams played a great game, but in the end, the Saints were the better team last night.

I wasn't that impressed with the commercials. I liked a couple of them. The e-trade baby commercial was pretty funny. This one was my favorite:

For the life of me, I can't figure out why this one caused so much controversy.

Anyhow, good night and good game. Congratulations to the Saints!

GO COLTS! WIN SUPERBOWL XLIV!

2010-02-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

Should Churches Accept Credit Cards for Offerings?

2010-02-03T07:30:00.005-05:00

I've had a lot of conversations recently about our giving kiosks and online giving. It seems like every conversation turns to: "As a church, we're wrestling with whether or not we should accept credit cards for giving? We teach Financial Peace University. Should we offer the credit card option?" I always offer an extemely helpful answer: I don't know.

The fact is that this is a question every church has to answer on its own. A strict Dave Ramsey Fundamentalist would say absolutely not. I respect that. However, a more "flexible" Dave Ramsey follower might say that there are those in the congregation who use their credit card regularly, for budgeted expenses, and it off every month. Those folks who use their credit card responsibly might appreciate being able to use their credit card to make their contribution so that they can benefit from the points or air miles. Also a valid argument. In fact, I've never talked to anyone who told me that they got themselves into deep credit card debt by over giving to their church on their credit card. Most folks seem to be very "responsible" when it comes to giving to their church.

At GCC, we take the flexible approach. We know that there are donors who are responsible with their credit card and we give them the opportunity to give with their credit card. For those who are prone to getting in trouble with a credit card, we strongly discourage the use of a credit card to make donations. For them, cash, check, or debit card is a more responsible choice.

No matter how a church lands on this issue, there are ways to accept electronic giving that will help to boost giving with or without credit cards. Our giving kiosks by SecureGive have the option to only accept debit cards. Fellowship One, our online giving tool provides the option to give using debit card or electronic check. Both solutions provide the opportunity to accept credit cards.

Kiosk Update/Stats

2010-01-21T09:26:00.006-05:00

This is a follow up to a previous post about our SecureGive Giving Kiosks. I've been getting a lot of questions about our giving kiosks. Questions like: Are you happy? Has your giving increased? Do they integrate with Fellowship One? So, I'm going to try to answer some of those questions in this post.

Between September 11 and December 31, we took in almost 1,250 donations on the kiosks and we received just over $100,000. That's $80/donation and $25,000/month.
Kiosk donations accounted for 4% of our overall donations in the last four months of 2009.
We paid around 3% in fees on those donations.
We have 3 machines. 2 on our Granger Campus and 1 on our Elkhart Campus.
1,166 of the donations totalling $92,500 were received on the Granger Campus.
The most visible machine took in 792 donations for $57,800
The less visible machine took in 374 donations for $34,700
80 of the donations and $7,300 were received on the Elkhart Campus.
Prior to September, we averaged 42 new donors/month to our General Fund. Between September and December we averaged 67 new givers/month to our General Fund.
Average monthly giving increased 3% in the last four months of 2009.
We believe that the kiosks are drawing new donors and adding to the amount being donated to our church.
The kiosk data can be uploaded to Fellowship One, but the two systems aren't directly connected. It took several months to get the process in place and there is a lot of manual effort involved, but it can be done. There is a lot of room for improvement in this area.
The kiosks are very easy to use. There is some effort required for first time users to set up some basic information. You can also upload donor information from F1 prior to using the kiosks so that most of your donors don't have to input any information to get started. After that, you type in your phone number, choose your fund, type in the amount you want to give, then swipe your card. It's that easy.
The kiosks take debit and credit card or just debit cards for you Dave Ramsey disciples.
I recommend good communication about why the kiosks are being used prior to making them available.
After making them available, continue to remind donors that they're available.
Experiment with placement to make sure they are placed in an optimal location for visibility and privacy. There needs to be a happy medium. If they're extremely private, they may not be very visible. If they're extremely visible, the may not be very private.

We're very happy with our giving kiosks. They've already served us well. They have been an excellent add to our giving options.

Giving Kiosk Launch

2009-09-17T16:23:00.005-04:00

We used this video to help us introduce our giving kiosks this past weekend. In addition to the video, Mark helped introduce the kiosks with a humorous story about a coversation with his son Aaron that helped him realize that people don't carry cash any more. Most people use their debit or their credit card to pay for stuff.

Since no one carries cash anymore, we're neglecting potential donors by not providing a way for them to give with their debit or credit card. So, we decided to use giving kiosks from SecureGive.

Last week, 94 people used the kiosks and donated over $5,700 on them. This past Wednesday evening, another $1,300 was donated on the kiosks. So far, it seems like they're helping.

Online Form 990 Filing

2009-09-15T15:57:00.003-04:00

I was preparing IRS Form 990 for a mission organization recently. As I began to write numbers in on the form, I began to realize that there was a lot of complexity and interconnectivity between the various reports and schedules.

So, I started asking myself if there was an easier way to do the 990. I began to research online. I read some articles that suggested it could take 158 hours to complete the new Form 990 the first time through.

Since I don't have 158 to complete anything, I decided I needed some kind of software solution to help me. So, I began to search for online Form 990 tools.

I found efile.form990.org which was a huge blessing. I was a little skeptical at first because I hadn't heard of it. However, I decided to try it. It was easy to use. It cost me $50 and allowed me to file my Form 990 electronically. It significantly reduced the time it took to complete Form 990. I'll definitely use this tool again next year.

Answered Prayer

2009-09-14T16:56:00.004-04:00

For as long as I've been a father, I've been praying for my children. One thing I pray every time I pray for them is that they would give their lives to Christ and that they would be baptized in His name. This weekend, 2 of the 455 people that were baptized at GCC were my son, Nolan, and my daughter, Lindsey. They were baptized on my 40th birthday. What an incredible birthday gift and answer to prayer! Praise God! Thanks to Mark for this great picture captured just after. 2 down and 1 to go. I'll continue to pray the same way for Collin.

New Switchfoot

2009-09-09T21:05:00.002-04:00

Looking Forward to the new Switchfoot (not sure what it's called anymore...used to be album). Anyhow, it the rest of the album is as good as this song, should be great.

Great Team Exercise - Discovering Strengths

2009-08-20T10:29:00.004-04:00

My team and I may be the last team in the country to do this exercise as a team. Recently, we read through Marcus Buckingham's "Now Discover Your Strengths", did the strengths test, and discussed our strengths as a team.

This was very helpful because it preceded a discussion about reorganizing our department and our individual tasks and responsibilities. Knowing our individual strengths and those of our teammates helped considerably as we discussed who should do what. It helped us understand why each of us tend to gravitate to certain tasks and prioritize our time the way we do. It's also helped us since that discussion as we work through issues that arise by reminding us how others in the department approach things. What a great exercise.

My Top 5 Strengths Are:

1. Deliberative
2. Responsibility
3. Analytical
4. Discipline
5. Focus

I know...typical robot accountant.

Online Giving Popular even Expected?

2009-08-11T08:43:00.002-04:00

Kem pointed this article about online giving out to me. It's an interesting read. Especially the survey information about what communication donors like to receive and don't want to receive. It backs up my opinion that online giving is an amazing tool for churches and charities. It's becoming more and more popular with donors. In fact, at this point in time, I think donors almost expect it to be a option for giving to an organization. Think about it. It's available 24 hrs. a day, 7 days a week. Its accessible from anywhere in the world. It makes it convenient and easy for a donor to give anytime, anywhere. Churches and charities can greatly benefit from maximizing this powerful tool.

Some things that increase the power of online giving for an organization:

A good web presence - Are people visiting the web site frequently and for all kinds of different reasons? The more people visit the web site the more likely they are to use online giving.
An easy to find link to the online giving application - I think there's a happy medium here. You want it to be visible, but discrete.
The ability to set up a giving schedule (i.e. once a week, once a month, etc.) - This is a powerful tool. It allows donors to decide in advance what they're going to give on a regular basis and provides a regular revenue stream for the organization.
Easy to find, easy to understand help information - Sometimes people need help using the application. They need to be able to easily find some easy to understand help documents.

I'm not Counting on Social Security

2009-07-24T11:02:00.003-04:00

Read this article today. It reminded me why I'm not counting on any mismanaged government program like Social Security to provide for me. I'm planning to take responsibility for my own retirement. I'll invest my money in separate retirement funds to cover my entire retirement period. If, by some miracle, I get some social security benefits when I retire, it will be gravy. Unfortunately, it appears that the government intends to continue taxing me more and more to keep this failed program on life support. Hopefully, they'll let me keep enough of my money to fund my own retirement. It's my responsibility, not the government's.

Gearing Up for a Plastic Economy

2009-07-23T09:57:00.011-04:00

I just checked my wallet. I have exactly $0. That's not atypical for me either. I just don't carry much cash with me anymore. I also don't carry a checkbook around with me either. I assume that most places I go, I'll be able to use my debit or credit card.

I think that the reality is that most people are moving toward plastic or electronic means to pay for goods and service or to pay their bills. Given this shift, what is the church doing to acknowledge and embrace this shift in the way people handle transactions? How do we give our members and guests opportunities to give electronically or with plastic? Well, at GCC we currently offer online giving at http://www.gccwired.com/. However, in the very near future, we'll be offering this:

These are giving kiosks from SecureGive. They will allow us to offer our guests an option to give on our campus using their debit or credit card. I'm excited about this. I think it will allow people who normally wouldn't give an opportunity to give. We'll soon see.

The Future U.S. Economy

2009-07-08T17:32:00.003-04:00

How are you preparing for the future based on the current U.S. Ecomony? This article has some predictions for the future economy and action steps for today.

As a Church Finance Director I'm considering how these predictions might affect our future resources.

FASB Codification Project

2009-06-26T08:31:00.003-04:00

Another article about the new FASB codification project. It warns that some of the coding may affect internal controls and accounting manuals.

"The harder issue," says Hepp, is that CFOs will need to review all accounting manuals and internal controls to adjust for the new system. "You have to make sure you weren't relying on any ambiguity in the wording or that there wasn't something in lower-level GAAP that's been brought up [to be authoritative]," he says. "When you change words from 'should' or 'generally' to 'must' or 'will' - which has been done - there could be some changes. And such changes could lead to a restatement if there's a significant change.

This project has taken all GAAP and combined it into one web site. You can find it here. It's free to use until July 1. After that, the basic version will be free. A one person license will be $850.

I Love this Sound!

2009-06-25T17:00:00.002-04:00

Nothing like the deep, rich sound of a good muscle car. Crank the speakers and hit play.

2009 Innovate Conference

2009-06-16T08:00:00.004-04:00

Innovate 2009 Pricing (Did you know, we slashed the prices back to what they were in 2005?!? Sometimes going old-school is cool.)

- $199 per person

- $189 for 2-5 people

- $179 for groups of 6+

To register and get details on speakers, the schedule and what to expect at this year's conference, go to innovateconference.com.

We’re changing up Innovate….
NEW:
• Innovate Arts Mash-Up (four churches, one theme, four live interpretations.)
• People's Choice Storyteller (you pick the speaker, on the spot, from the crowd.)
• Guest speaker Shannon O'Dell from BrandNewChurch.com (he broadcasts church from a Hummer in the
middle of nowhere, uh, wow)
• Live streaming of all general sessions on InnovateConference.com (you can't bring everyone,
but everyone can watch.)
• Registration fees rolled back to rates from 2005 (times are tough, we get it, we're trying to help.)

YOU:
• You're in control of more topics and real-time questions via live texting and roving mics.
• Your live tweets will show up on the ginormous big screen live during the conference.

FASB Codification Project Almost Complete

2009-06-15T13:33:00.004-04:00

According to this article the FASB codification project is almost complete. When it's finished all non-governmental U.S. GAAP information will be available and searchable online at www.fasb.org. All GAAP in one place and searchable. That's really helpful. It's still in beta mode and free until July 1. So, now is a good time to check it out before you have to pay a subscription fee.

What do Puffy Coats, Nick Burns, and Technology Have in Common?

2009-06-11T14:01:00.005-04:00

A new perspective. Kem gave this keynote at Dynamic Church 09. For me, it was on the heels of a discussion with my team about our role and customer service. This helped reinforce that discussion with a new perspective. Check it out. It's really good.

DC09: Kem Meyer Keynote from Fellowship Technologies on Vimeo.

Dynamic Church Conference - Online Giving Presentation

2009-06-03T09:02:00.010-04:00

I recently did an online giving presentation at the Dynamic Church Conference. It was about the power of online giving and how to maximize it for ministry.

Here's a link to the presentation.

Dave Ramsey Townhall for Hope on Hulu

2009-05-29T08:28:00.004-04:00

My friend Todd, who has a cool new blog, turned me on to this today. Thanks Todd!

Dave Ramsey's Townhall for Hope is on Hulu. You can check it out here.

June Workshops + Practicums

2009-05-08T10:21:00.004-04:00

You're probably just about ready for some sun and a vacation. Have you considered Granger, Indiana as your next vacation destination? Perhaps you've always longed to see the cornfields of Northern Indiana? No?

Hmm. How about considering Granger as a learning destination then? Thursday-Friday, June 25-26, WiredChurches.com will be hosting a variety of workshops at Granger Community Church, just 90 miles east of Chicago.

It's easy. Pick one of the following workshops to attend all day. Come for one day or stay for two. Your materials and lunch are included. The experience? It will be packed with real-life examples of what works and what doesn't, with space for questions and interaction. The cost? Just $99 per person, per day.

Thursday, June 25 [9 a.m.-4 p.m.]

- Less Clutter. Less Noise. [How to get the word out.]
- EnterMission [Engaging your people in local and global missions.]
- First Impressions [Keep guests coming back to your church.]
- Kids [Creating safe, fun space for kids to know Jesus.]
- Multi-site Church Practicum [Strategies for launching a multi-site.]

Friday, June 26 [9 a.m.-4 p.m.]

- Less Clutter. Less Noise. Day 2 [Extend Day 1 with consulting.]
- Lasting Impressions [Keeping guests growing and engaged.]
- Simply Strategic Volunteers [Finding and keeping great volunteers.]
- Information Technology Practicum [IT best practices, resources and tools.]

Pay off the House or Invest

2009-05-07T07:49:00.005-04:00

From time to time, I've had discussions with friends about whehter it's wise to invest extra cash or to payoff the house with extra cash. The argument is always: "Why wouldn't I just pay my mortgage at 5 1/2% and invest extra money to earn 10%?" That's a great question! Logically speaking, the numbers seem to suggest that earning 10% and paying 5 1/2% is the prudent way to go. I'm even prone to say that if you've got the assets to sell to pay off your house in an emergency, invest the money.

The problem with the logic is risk. I have to give Dave Ramsey credit for opening my eyes to this argument. If you could borrow money at 5 1/2% and earn 10% on it day in and day out, why not borrow twice the value of your home and invest it? What about three, four, or five times the value? Eventually, everyone says that would be silly. Why? Because once the number gets big enough, we inherently factor in the risk.

What is the risk? There is risk in borrowing and risk in investing. The times we're living through right now illustrate the risk precisely. Lots of people are losing their job, the value of the stock market has been cut in half, and the value of homes has dropped significantly. If someone who decided to invest instead of paying off their house lost their job recently, had their investments cut in half, and lives in a home that is worth less than they owe, how do they stay in their home if they can't pay the mortgage? How do they pay the mortgage without the income from a job? What do they do with the investments that are worth half of what they invested? I don't know. Personally? I think I'd rather be looking for a job in a paid for house than worrying about how long my devalued investments are going to cover my mortgage.

Hillsong London Coming to GCC - Got Tickets?

2009-04-07T13:06:00.004-04:00

Hillsong Church London is coming to GCC for a night of worship. It should be an incredible experience. I have my ticket and I'm looking forward to it.

Do you have your Hillsong tickets? I understand that after 1 week of promotion here at GCC, we’ve already sold half of the available tickets! So, if you're planning to go, don’t wait until the night of – there won’t be tickets left. Get them today! You can get them here.

Ways to Find Extra Cash

2009-03-19T09:39:00.004-04:00

With the economy the way it is, I thought I'd suggest some ways to find extra money when jobs are being lost and salaries are being frozen. Usually, I say that there are 3 ways to find extra money:

Make more money - Would require another job, a better job, or a raise.
Sell Stuff - Clean out the garage or basement and have a sale.
Spend Less - Create a budget and control cash outflow.

In this economy, making more money may not be an option. However selling some stuff and spending less are always an option to explore. No matter what, having a strict budget in place for expenditures is helpful to control cash outflow. Clip coupons for groceries. Cancel luxury services like cable TV and Cell Phone or home phone. Eat out less. Brown bag lunch. Have an emergency fund for unexpected/unplanned expenses.

If there's a need for extra cash right away, selling stuff is a quick way to get it. It's only stuff. When times are better, stuff can be replaced. Right now the market for good, used stuff is as good as it's ever been. So, here are my suggestions:

Search closets, basments, garages - Anything that's been sitting for a year or more is available for sale. Clothes, sporting goods, electronics, tools, furniture, etc.
Use Ebay or Craig's List to sell it. With Ebay there is the benefit of the auction process to drive the price higer, but there is a fee for using the service and the cost and hassle of shipping the stuff. With Craig's there is the benefit of local buyers and no cost, but the auction benefit for price isn't available.
Don't forget about old or unused jewelry. Gold and silver are trading at all time highs. Even if jewelry is broken, it can still be sold for the gold or silver content at a relatively high price to a local jeweler or gold dealer.
Selling blood plasma is an option for those who don't mind needles.
Sell services - Mowing, painting, cleaning, etc. Start with family and friends.

This isn't an exhaustive list, but it's a start. Any other suggestions for finding extra money in a tough economy?

Give Yourself a Raise

2009-03-16T12:57:00.005-04:00

In my last post I wrote about how a lot of companies are freezing salaries this year. In this post, I'd like to suggest that you might be able to give yourself a raise.

Every year at tax time I have conversations with people who tell me what they are going to do with their tax refund. They are going to go on vacation or pay off debt or buy a TV. After I cringe while trying to appear not to, I think, "Do they think that's free money that appeared out of nowhere?"; "Don't they know that's their money they loaned to the government for free for a year?"; "What could they have done or avoided if they had kept that money in their paycheck?"; "Did they let their credit card balance increase at 18% while loaning their pay out at 0%?"

Tax refunds seem to be a replacement for regular saving or a safegaurd against a large tax bill. Unfortunately, its a poor savings plan. Most people laugh at passbook savings rates, but don't mind loaning their money to the IRS for free. Additionally, most people aren't in danger of large tax bills at the end of the year if they fill out their W-4 correctly. Some exceptions would be dual income families, families with large amounts of investment income, and families that have 1099 MISC income.

So, if you got a large refund this year (I'd say $300 or more), check the exemptions on your W-4. Without any of the exceptions noted above, you should be able to complete it as prescribed and get a raise in your paycheck. You can then use it to meet your monthly bills, pay off debt, or save for an emergency. Even If you're worried about a large tax bill, at least keep the money and put it in an emergency fund that you could use to pay your taxes. Better in your pocket than the IRS.

Enjoy your raise.

Spring Is Coming but Salaries are Frozen

2009-03-10T11:02:00.001-04:00

According to this article one in four companies has frozen salaries for 2009. It also suggests that some companies are cutting salaries. Our auditors said they've seen a lot of companies freezing or reducing salaries this year.

Potential New Financial Statement Format

2009-03-06T07:29:00.001-05:00

Have you heard about the new financial statement format that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Internation Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is considering? I first heard about this concept at a CPE class I attended in December.

If not, this article will introduce the concept. I'm not sure if it will apply to Churches. My guess is that it will.

I haven't formed an opinion on it yet. I think it's going to be a big change to get used to. Balance sheets that don't balance like they do now; categorized balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement; and a cash flow statement prepared using the direct method.

Read the article and let me know what you think.

New Payroll Withholding Tables for Making Work Pay Credit

2009-03-05T16:09:00.003-05:00

The IRS has published the new tax withholding tables for the Making Work Pay Credit which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The related article with additional information is here.

Specific & Practical Help for Churches & Leaders

2009-03-05T10:41:00.003-05:00

The latest addition of our WiredChurches Specific & Practical Magazine is available as an Ezine. You can find it here.

Lots of helpful articles from GCC Leaders like Mark, Tim, Kem, Rob, and Butch along with information about 2009 WiredChurches Workshops and Conferences.

Check it out. It's FREE!

What's in Cyberspace stays in Cyberspace

2009-03-04T13:48:00.004-05:00

Loved this post by Tim about how companies are searching Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter to get a feel for who a potential job candidate is. Tim also suggested that the same could be done when considering a ministry candidate or volunteer. Pretty good advice.

Who Needs to be on the Dave Ramsey Plan?

2009-03-04T11:16:00.005-05:00

I was listening to Dave Ramsey's podcast today. He read a twitter post from Congressman John Culberson from Texas. The post said that this economy needs "Americans to get on the Dave Ramsey Plan".

Although Dave was flattered by the compliment and agreed that Americans need to get on the Dave Ramsey plan, he also said that Americans need Congress to get on the Dave Ramsey plan not Congress telling Americans to do it. Later he said that the Congress that is spending out of control needs to change and chanted, "I want term limits" over and over again as he went to break.

I couldn't agree more Dave. I couldn't agree more.

It's Audit Time

2009-03-03T18:35:00.003-05:00

Our independent audit firm is here this week auditing our 2008 financial statements. We have them come in every year and audit our books. Yes, we hire them to do it. Most people think that's like beating yourself up for lunch money.

I'm glad we do it. It provides our church, bank, staff, and donors with some assurance that we're accounting for our resources properly. It also gives me an opportunity to get some independent feedback on our internal control, processes, and business practices.

You Think Charitable Giving is Down Now...

2009-02-27T09:10:00.017-05:00

We've seen our giving decline in recent years. Most notably, in recent months, the economy in our area has had a negative affect on our giving revenue. In fact, with staff costs increasing and revenue decreasing, we recently had to endure, as Mark Beeson so ably wrote it, a Horrible Difficult Day. Probably one of the top 5 worst days of my life. It really was a horrible, difficult day.

Well, if the current economic downturn hasn't hurt charitable giving enough, I'm wondering how what I'm reading about here, here, and here will affect charitable giving. Would these proposed changes in the deductability of charitable giving coupled with an increase in taxes have an affect on charitable contributions? Would it have an affect on GCC's contributions? Should we be considering the possibility that we may receive less in charitable giving over the next few years?

An ABC News article said this:

'The administration is attempting to redirect vast sums of money from businesses and wealthier individuals to those with lower incomes and enact ambitious and costly new programs for energy, education and health care. "

"Much of the spending is being done with money the government does not have, creating a $1.75 trillion deficit next year alone."

"Almost $1 trillion of the spending, $989 billion, comes from new taxes during the next 10 years. When the Bush administration's tax cuts expire at the end of 2010, new tax increases will target families earning more than $250,000 a year. "

The government is trying to spend money it doesn't have. There is no Federal Money-Tree forest. The proposed solution is to raise taxes and eliminate deductions. If "wealthy" can be arbitrarily assigned to those earning more than $250,000/yr., it seems like "wealthy" could be arbitrarily adjusted to $100,000 or $50,000 if $250,000 doesn't produce enough revenue.

So, if the federal government is attempting to redirect "vast sums of money" from "wealthy" individuals to those with lower incomes, won't the "wealthy" just assume that the federal government is the charity that they're supporting? Isn't it logical that, at the least, they would give less to charity?

Hilarious - Accountant Gangsta Rap

2009-01-29T11:06:00.000-05:00

2009 - The Year of 27 Payroll Pays?

2008-12-12T14:47:00.003-05:00

I've had some interesting conversations over the last week related to payroll for 2009. We use ADP for processing payroll on a bi-weekly basis. BTW - We love ADP payroll services. Anyhow, we received a communication from them about a month ago that warned us that we may be in a rare situation where we have 27 pays in 2009.

In 2009 because of the way the pay dates fall, companies that process payroll on a bi-weekly basis may have a situation where they will have 27 pays. The problem is: what do you do with that extra pay for Salaried staff? Do you:

Take the salary and divide it by 27 instead of the usual 26. If so, the bi-weekly pay amount is drastically reduced. That's hard on your staff. Probably won't be a very popular decision.
Just pay the extra pay. If you do this one, you better include it in your 2009 budget. You could do this in lieu of a salary increase. You'll just have to explain that the salary increase will take place on December 31.
Todd at New Pointe Community Church is brilliant. He decided to shift all of the salary staff to twice a month instead of bi-weekly. They move from 26 or 27 pays to 24 pays per year. The hourly staff stay at bi-weekly. They avoid a huge hit from 27 pays. The only problem with this is that the number of pays that are processed increases. In fact, in some months, there could be one payroll per week.

It's an issue worth considering. It could have a negative affect on your 2009 budget. Has anyone else recognized this issue? Anyone else have a good solution?

Church Management Software

2008-12-12T13:53:00.005-05:00

If you're in the market for Church Management Software, Jason posted about a new article on Church Management Software at Ministry IT. This is a good informational article about several of the systems that are available and what they do. It also includes contact information for the various companies that provide the software.

Here at GCC we use Fellowship One as our Church Management solution along with Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) as our General Ledger accounting solution. We're very happy with both solutions.

I like Fellowship One's scanner based contribution processing and online giving tools. Check images are attached to contributions which eliminates a lot of paper. I also like the ability to search for, locate, and merge duplicate records. The check-in application is pretty cool too.

Great plains offers a great solution for General Ledger accounting. It's got good access security. It offers modules for many different applications. We use Bank Reconciliation, Fixed Assets, and A/P regularly. It's expandable and upgradeable. We use a reporting tool called FRx for writing and running reports.

At this point, Fellowship One and Great Plains do not integrate, but that doesn't offer a huge challenge to us.

McDonald's + Visa = Employer Based Financial Literacy

2008-12-04T08:41:00.005-05:00

Looks like McDonald's and Visa are partnering to offer America's largest Employer-Based Financial Literacy Initiative. See article here.

The "McDonald's Practical Money Skills" program is based on Visa's "Practical Money Skills for Life" and is being offered to 500,000 restaurant level employees at McDonald's.

Steve Russell, Cheif People Officer, McDonald's USA said, "Providing information and educating our employees about the importance of financial responsibility has become increasingly important -- now more than ever."

Although I'm happy to see an employer take on the responsibility of personal finance training, I think it's sad that they have to "now more than ever".

I'd love to see more High Schools or Colleges offering personal finance training like Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance.

Or, maybe it's not even the school's responsibility. Maybe it's a parent's responsibility to train their children in personal finance. Dave has tools to help.

Churches can help too. Here at GCC, we offer Financial Peace University twice a year. Our next session will be February 23. You can sign up here.

For now, kudos to McDonald's. Maybe other businesses will follow their lead. Dave has plenty of tools to help.

UPDATE - I'm Reviewing My Free Credit Report

2008-11-25T13:00:00.000-05:00

UPDATE - This is for Todd. Credit report looks good. Credit freeze is on! It was easy to do online at:

Experian
TransUnion
Equifax

Cost for all 3 was $0 (FREE) for Indiana residents.

____________________________________________________________________

This morning I went to annualcreditreport.com and printed my credit report from the three credit bureaus for free.

Annualcreditreport.com is the official site to get your free credit report without any strings attached that could cost you money.

There are other sites with hypnotically catching jingles (you just can't get it out of your head) that claim to be free but that come with strings attached. The most common is automatic enrollment in a "free" trial membership to a credit monitoring service. If you don't cancel your membership within the 7 day trial you get billed $14.95/mo. until you cancel.

I'm going to review my reports to make sure that there isn't anything on them that I'm not aware of. If there is, I'll investigate because it might be a sign that someone is using my identity to request credit.

After I'm sure that my credit report is in good order, I'm going to freeze my credit so that no one can open a credit account using my identity.

Snowballs...

2008-11-16T22:29:00.007-05:00

We got our first snow of the year last week. Man...it's way too early for snow. We're in for a long winter. I really hate winter. Anyhow, we decided to make the best of it and make snowmen. To make these snowmen we had to make giant snowballs. We started with a handfull of snow and rolled it around in the snow as it packed on and got bigger and bigger.

All of this snowball making reminded me of the Debt Snowball concept that Dave Ramsey talks about. Here's how the concept works:

Destroy/close credit cards - they can't be used
Squeeze a little bit of extra money from the budget every month
Make a list of all debts from smallest to largest on a piece of paper
Apply the extra money that was found to the smallest debt while paying the minimum monthly payment on all the other debts
When the smallest debt is paid off, combine everything that was being paid on that debt with the minimum payment amount on the next smallest debt while paying the minimum monthly payment on all other debts.
Repeat until all debt is paid off.

The snowball affect comes as each debt is paid off. As each debt is paid more money is available to attack the next debt. This is an effective and proven way to get out of debt. However, it takes time and requires intense focus from start to finish. It only works if no new debt is added which is why #1 and the budget in #2 is so important.

Excel Resource - Mr. Excel Podcast

2008-11-11T10:19:00.004-05:00

Todd told me about this in a phone conversation and posted about it here.

Mr. Excel is an awesome resource if you use Excel regularly. He's got little hints and tricks that I never knew. A couple of examples that I looked at recently involved cleaning up charts with dates and using the consolidate tool to consolidate data from multiple worksheets into one.

This is really good stuff. I've subscribed to his video podcast in itunes. It's free. It's daily. It's about 2-4 minutes each. I'm loving it.

Thanks Mr. Excel!

Really Simple Financial Advice

2008-10-22T16:30:00.001-04:00

I heard Dave Ramsey give a caller some really simple advice on his show this morning. He said, "Don't buy stuff you can't afford." It reminded me of this video.

Security Freeze on Credit Reporting

2008-10-21T13:58:00.005-04:00

After Todd's post on credit reporting agencies security freezes, I'm consindering putting the freeze on.

How We Saved on Health Insurance

2008-10-21T09:38:00.005-04:00

At budget time we always look for ways to steward our resources better. Last year at this time our insurance agent told us that our health insurance premiums were going to be increasing 19%. WOW! That's a lot of money!

Bob, who is responsible for human resources, wasn't satisfied with this outlook. So, he began to look for possible alternatives that would give us the same level of care but at a lower cost to the church without raising the costs for our staff. Pretty lofty goals I know.

He found an alternative called a Health Savings Account (HSA) or High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). This insurance is designed to shift some of the cost and responsibility for health care to the individual employee. It shifts the cost by lowering premiums for employers while at the same time raising deductibles for emloyees (i.e. $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families).

To compensate for the higher deductibles, employees are allowed to put pre-tax dollars into a Health Savings Account that they can use to pay uncovered health costs up to the deductible amount. Employers are also allowed to make contributions to these accounts. These accounts are owned by the employee and money used for health care costs is non-taxable. Money stays in the account year after year. Once the deductible amount is met, allowable health care costs are covered at 100%.

What we discovered was that we could switch to the HSA plan, keep the same provider network, make contributions equal to 75% of the staff member deductible to each participating staff member's HSA, and still save money over the 19% increase on our old health plan.

So, by contributing 75% of the deductible to the staff member's HSA, we met all of our goals of lowering costs to the church, not raising costs for the employee, and maintaining the level of care. We switched to the plan early in 2008.

For more information about HSAs, I recommend that you contact your insurance provider.

Warren Buffett is Buying American Stock

2008-10-18T06:38:00.004-04:00

In this op-ed Warren Buffett says he's buying American stocks for his own personal portfolio.

Warren's words of wisdom: "A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful." I love that.

Although there is a lot of fear and uncertainty in the market right now and no one is real sure how long it will be in this funk, history shows that its times like these that are the best opportunity for investing for the future. Buy low, sell high.

Like Warren says in the article, these are investments for the future (maybe 5 to 10 years out).

Don't use cash you need immediately or can't afford to lose like your emergency fund or mortgage payment. Remember, investing has risks of loss.

Instead of trying to pick individual stocks, it might be better to buy shares of a good mutual fund slowly and steadily over time.

Is Your Accounting Team Disconnected?

2008-10-17T11:41:00.004-04:00

I recently attended Tim's breakout at ICC called "Creating a Staff Culture that Rocks". In his session, the question was asked (Paraphrase) Does your accounting team feel disconnected or alienated from the rest of the staff?

It seemed like an odd question to me until I heard the context. At this church, the accounting staff was hired from the outside. They didn't attend the church.

I've heard of other churches who hire their accounting staff from the outside or encourage their accounting staff not to attend the church. I admit that I don't totally understand the rationale behind this. If they don't have a stake in the ministry, What's their motivation to do their best work? How can they pull hard for the mission, vision, and values of the church if they aren't involved? Isn't it just a job to them? What motivates them to keep confidential information confidential? What keeps them from circumventing internal controls for personal gain?

I love that we hire a great majority of our staff, including our accounting staff, from the inside here at GCC. I love the way our entire staff is treated like a family. We all attend church here. We all tithe here. We're all invited to all staff meetings like our weekly all staff meeting called SWAT (Staff Working as Team). We're all asked to serve in the church. We're all motivated to pull together for our mission vision and values. We're all informed about what's going on and what's coming up. No one is disconnected or alienated from the rest of the staff team.

What's the benefit of this connection?

As an accounting staff, we love Jesus and we love GCC. We do our best to be effective, efficient, timely, and accurate. We're upset when things don't reconcile to the penny. We do our absolute best to keep confidential information confidential. We do our best to adhere to our system of internal control and prevent fraud or abuse. Its more than just a job for us. We're "helping people take their next step toward Christ...together".

I think its especially important for the accounting staff to be part of the church and staff family. After all, the financial resources of the church are entrusted to their care. They need to care about what's entrusted to them.

FASB Chairman Lessons from Credit Crisis

2008-10-17T08:57:00.012-04:00

The Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Bob Herz offers Lessons Learned, Relearned, and learned again from the credit crisis in this article. It's long and technical, but an interesting read. He addresses some of the accounting and reporting issues involved. He has an interesting take on "Mark to Market" or "fair value" accounting.

Quote that caught my attention:

"As I said, at the heart of this chain of events was the explosion of novel mortgages and other loans. While lax and fraudulent lending practices were seemingly the prime culprit, there are two sides in a lending transaction and many consumers eagerly snatched-up "too good to be true" loans, without understanding the consequences. At its height, the frenzy was reminiscent of the investment craze in dot.com stocks. In both cases, misplaced investor enthusiasm was, in my view, due at least in part to widespread financial illeteracy in our country, along with a belief that somehow this time the situation was different and prices would rise forever."

Takeaways for me:

Average American Financial illiteracy is a major problem. That's why I love what Dave is doing and what GCC is doing through Financial Peace University
Just because the sweetheart loans were offered didn't mean they had to be accepted
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
"Perverse incentives often lead to perverse outcomes"
Remember the risks - In our financial markets potential gains come with potential losses
You can't assume investment prices will rise forever. Investment prices go up and down.
Individuals are responsible for the transactions they enter - "No matter how promising the markets may currently seem, even the most sophisticated investor needs to consider all opportunities from a perspective of "caveat emptor" or "buyer beware""

"Accounting has consequences-but can we handle the truth? Accounting has consequences, its meant to, otherwise why do it? External financial reporting is not merely a compliance exercise, nor is it an opportunity for spin. Rather the primary intent is to inform investors and the capital markets [readers/users]. What you measure matters! And, accountability requires honest accounting and informative disclosure, even when the news is bad."

$700 Billion Bailout Afterthoughts

2008-09-30T11:46:00.015-04:00

I've been asked by several people what I think about the $700 Billion bailout. So, here's a glimpse of what I think.

I think it's a very complicated mess created by America's - "I want it all. I want it now. And I'll borrow whatever I can to have it." - credit mentality. From the government, to Wall Street, to Main Street, everyone is too dependent on credit.

I think lending practices that have never been heard of before in our history were the start. Can you say $0 down, Interest Only? Sub-prime loans - Washington encouraged them, lenders peddled them, and Main Street Americans accepted them. What happened to renting and saving until you could put 20% down?

I think that the problem was known long before it became a politically advantageous "crisis" one month before a Presidential Election. See articles from 2004 & 2005 here and here.

Is it possible for the media to be any more negative about the economy? How much artificial fear are they creating? Even good news gets spun into bad news. Is there any objectivity anymore?

I think that the bailout is nothing more than a fix for the problem that created the problem. We're pumping more borrowed money into the banking system so that banks can lend more money. How crazy is that?

I think it's absurd that the same bill that didn't pass originally, passed with ease after another $110 Billion in pork was added to it.

I think that the bailout is a poorly thought out, hastily adopted plan that puts the very people who are responsible for creating the mess in charge of fixing it with little or no help for the average American. If a plan was necessary, why is it that it has to involve the Federal Government intervening in the free market?

I think that Dave Ramsey's Plan would have worked better, faster, and cheaper by giving some stability and insurance to the sub-prime loans while giving the power to jump start the economy to American citizens and their businesses.

I hope that this will be a wake up to our generation about the negative affects of credit much the same as the Great Depression was a wake up to our grand parents and great grandparents.

I love what Dave says about what we need to do now. Washington isn't and shouldn't be responsible for fixing our financial mess. We're responsible for our finances.

Church Admin User Group

2008-09-29T10:25:00.005-04:00

My friend Todd recently blogged about a yahoo user group for church administrators. Todd said, "you need to check it out". Todd is wise. So, I'm going to check it out.

Professional Issues Update

2008-09-24T09:02:00.012-04:00

Yesterday, I attended a Professional Issues Update class put on by the Indiana CPA Society. This class is interesting because it covers some of the issues facing accounts today. Here are some highlights:

The rate of change in science and technology over the next decade is likely to be 4-7 times fater than the last decade! That's like planning for 2006 in 1890 (4x) or 1670(7x)!
Finding and retaining good people is the top issue for businesses.
Part of finding and retaining good people involves relating to Generation Y or Mellinials.
Saw this video from brazen careerist.com which helps you understand what college kids are going through today.
Saw this 60 Minutes video on the Mellinial work force.
There's a nationwide increase in accounting students and a decrease in accounting professors
More students studying accounting and using it to lauch their career.
Actually heard the facilitator say "Accounting is sexy". Oh yeah.
Convergence of GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards not a question of if but when. Be prepared.
IFRS has already impacted Not-For-Profits. There was a case of an Indiana Not-For-Profit that was asked to present IFRS financial statements to obtain a grant.
Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a reporting language that will be used/requested/required in the future.
Top Technology Initiatives - Business Intelligence is new on the list this year.

More including power point and web links here.

Background Checks on Volunteers?

2008-09-22T12:04:00.001-04:00

Because we want to create the safest, most secure environment possible for our church:

We do criminal background checks on all of our staff prior to hiring them. We add a sexual offender check if the staff member is going to be working with children or students.

We do criminal background checks on volunteers who work with children, students, security, or money. For those volunteers who work with children or students we do a sexual offender check as well.

All of our checks are run through SecureSearch from our Fellowship One church management software.

Our staff member responsible for Human Resources does all of the checks on staff.

For volunteers, there is one person per department who is responsible for running background checks on that department’s volunteers.

PROCESS
Before a volunteer begins to serve in an area where background checks are required, he/she is notified that a background check will be done and asked to complete a background check consent form.

The staff member uses the information from the background check consent form to request the background check in Fellowship One.

Fellowship One transmits the data to SecureSearch who runs the check.

The staff member who requested the check scans and emails an electronic copy of the consent form to the person responsible for Human Resources who attaches the file to the volunteer’s record in our database.

When the check is complete, SecureSearch sends it back to Fellowship One electronically and the electronic report is attached to the volunteer’s record in our database

The staff member who requested the background check is responsible for reviewing the check to assess the results.

If the check comes back clean, then the staff member marks the check “Approved” in the data base and moves on in the process.

If the check comes back with results, then the staff member is responsible for following up with the volunteer candidate. If the results disqualify the volunteer candidate, then the staff member updates the status to “Not Approved” in the database and helps the volunteer find another place to serve. If after further investigation the results don’t disqualify the volunteer candidate, then the staff member updates the status as “approved” in the database and moves on in the volunteer process.

Computer Dependent Accountant

2008-09-18T07:53:00.005-04:00

I admit it. I'm highly dependent on my computer. You tend to forget how much you rely on all of you computer equipment, software, and data until they crash.

That's just what happened to us a couple of days ago. At one of the worst possible times of the year, we lost a server and a backup system ( I think that's right. I'm an accountant not a computer guy).

Fortunately, we have the best IT team ever. Jason, Ed, and Justin worked like mad men to get things back up and running by the end of the day they discovered the problem. Way to go guys!

This little incident reminded me of the importance of a good backup system. It's a critical part of an IT and Accounting structure. What would happen if a tornado, flood, hurricane, etc. hit? What would happen to data?

We use several types of backup here at GCC. We use tape drives that backup every night. We also use a web based program called Mozy that provides an easy and inexpensive way to backup data offsite. I'm sure there are other backup procedures that I'm not aware of. But, I'm comfortable knowing that we have some procedures in place.

Backup good...lost data bad.

How We Budget

2008-09-16T12:33:00.012-04:00

It's that time of year when most of us begin to think about and begin to prepare our budget for the upcoming year. So, how do we do our budget here at GCC? It changes a little bit every year, but the basic steps are:

We determine our budgeted revenue. We do this based on years of history as well as current conditions and a healthy amount of faith. This number drives the rest of the budget.

We also determine what the cost of our current staff and debt service will be for the upcoming year. These are centralized and fixed costs that have to be subtracted from revenue to determine how much is left to allocate to other ministry and operating expenses.

After the revenue number is determined, Tim and Mark discuss mission, vision, and values to determine goals for the upcoming year.

Based on their discussion, Tim sets some budget thresholds for each ministry and operating department.

Each department leader is given a threshold and asked to prepare a budget that is within that threshold. The threshold usually includes both capital and non-capital expenditures. They're also asked to include some goals and dreams for the upcoming year in their budget.

Department leaders prepare their budgets for their departments and turn them in.

We gather all of the budget documents and compile them in an easy to review form.

Tim reviews the budgets that were turned in and requests additional information, corrections, adjustments, etc.

Once Tim is satisfied with the numbers, he presents the final budget to our Senior Management Team (SMT) who approves the budget.

After the SMT approves the budget, it's presented to our Board of Directors who approve the budget.

Economy and Money This Weekend

2008-09-15T09:38:00.043-04:00

There are many, many reasons I love my church. One of the things I love is that we're not afraid to tackle big, "off limits" subjects like sex and money.

This weekend during our FEAR series the subject was "Fear of the Economy". If you haven't seen it, you should watch it here. We talked about money this weekend and it was awesome!

The whole service was incredible! All of the arts elements were fantastic!

Mark's message about the economy and money was just awesome! Here is some of the wisdom from Mark's message:

You gotta have some stuff.
God loves you and wants you to have the stuff you need
Give us this day our daily bread
We need stuff to do stuff
You can't find security or identity in money
You find security and identity in Jesus Christ
You don't have to be rich to be happy
You don't have to be poor to be holy

2 Unfortunate Misconceptions:

Having a pile of money is evil - 1 Timothy 6:10, Luke 12:15, Mark 8:36
Money is the key to happiness

Financial Freedom is not determined by how much money you make. It's determined by how you spend what you have.

Memorize this verse with your kids Proverbs 21:20 - Stupid people spend their money as fast as they get it.

Without (the fruit of the spirit) self-control, our yearning capacity will always exceed our earning capacity. Galatians 5:22-23

Luke 16:11, 1 Timothy 6:18-19, Proverbs 30:8-9, 1 Timothy 6:6

The World's Pattern for our money

(Aquire, Enjoy, Repay, Save, Give, Plan)

"The average American tips their waiters and waitresses more in a week than they put in the offering plate every week." WOW!

God's Pattern for our money

(Dedicate, Plan, Give, Save, Repay, Enjoy)

Finding Extra Cash

2008-09-09T09:02:00.007-04:00

What do you see in this photo?

To some it's a basement full of junk. To some, it's a storage area. To me, it looks like extra cash for an emergency fund or to payoff a credit card or charitable donation. With a little work, this basement could be cleaned up and turned into extra cash.

Most of us have stuff in our basements and storage areas that we haven't seen, touched, or used for years. We tend to accumulate this stuff over time because it's easier to stick it in the basement than to figure out how to get rid of it. Some of us think about that one day in the distant future when we may actually need it.

What if instead of accumulating stuff in our basement, we took time to deaccumulate the stuff in our basement? What if we sold everything we haven't seen, touched, or used in a year or more? What if I could convince my wife to let me clean our basement? Hmmm...the possibilities.

What is IFRS?

2008-09-05T16:37:00.004-04:00

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is one of the hot topics of discussion at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). It's an attempt to get U.S. companies accounting and reporting on the same standards as other companies around the world. It's not clear when/if they will be required to be implemented. They may not apply to local churches. But, if adopted, this could require significant investment in staff, IT, and other support. I read this article and noted this:

"If we set a date for adopting [IFRS], we need a minimum of a year, if not two years, of no new accounting systems," said FASB member George Batavick. "Companies need a break." Batavick, who said he is a "strong believer in moratoriums before and after" a future switch to IFRS, discussed the concept in response to a question from the audience at a mid-year update webcast. He also said there should be "at least a one-year quiet period" during which no interpretive guidance would be issued.

"In addition to needing time to manage such a massive changeover, said Batavick, companies "also need a period to have their [IT] systems run two [accounting] systems." That's a reference to the fact that any changeover to IFRS will probably require U.S. companies to manage two sets of books for at least two years."

"Trust Is Not an Internal Control"

2008-09-05T14:55:00.007-04:00

We have a local CPA firm come in and audit our books every spring. Every year, Bob reminds me that "Trust is not an Internal Control". He also reminds me that he sees as much fraud in churches as he does in other businesses. Mostly because churches often lack appropriate internal controls.

I recognize that sometimes it takes a lot of resources to implement good internal contorls. I realize that a lot of churches just don't have the financial or human resources to implement all of the controls they need. I understand that it's possible to implement so many controls that ministry gets stifled. I realize that internal controls are often perceived as a lack of trust in your staff.

However, I think we need to look at internal controls differently. A good internal control system not only protects the church but it also shows that staff is valued. They are valued enough to put a system of controls in place that protects them from accusation and temptation but doesn't hamper their ability to do ministry. That balance can be achieved.

Check out this report on Fraud. Is your church and staff properly protected with internal control?

Redesign and Changes to Form 990

2008-09-05T14:48:00.002-04:00

Do you file form 990? If so, do you know about the redesign and changes to form 990 for 2008? If not, you may want to check it out.

Cash Flow, Projections, and Tools

2008-09-05T14:33:00.001-04:00

This article has links to lots of articles about Cash Flow, Projections and Forecasting, and financial tools.

Church Credit Cards

2008-09-05T13:47:00.004-04:00

Got a question about church credit cards today. Thought I'd post about them.

At GCC, we do our best to help facilitate ministry. We want every ministry to succeed. We try very hard to make sure that our staff doesn't have trouble purchasing the stuff they need to do ministry.

So, we offer all of our staff that are responsible for purchasing the ability to use a Granger Community Church credit card. We also allow them to use their own credit card for ministry purchases. In either case, the staff member is responsible for paying the statement and requesting reimbursement for ministry expenses.

Along with the priviledge of using a church credit card also comes some responsibility. So, for those who are issued a church credit card we require the following responsibilities:

GCC Credit Cards are for budgeted GCC ministry expenses only
GCC Credit Card balances should be paid on time and in full every month
If for some reason the balance isn't paid on time and in full, the staff member is responsible for paying the late fees or finance charges
Violations of these could lead to cancellation of the card

We have the ability to set the credit limit for each card based on the staff member and their purchasing needs. We also have the ability to monitor all of the cards to make sure they are being used appropriately and paid on time and in full.

Most Helpful Resource

2008-09-03T14:14:00.009-04:00

Of all the resources that I use, the most helpful resource to me as a church finance director has been:

The Church & Clergy Tax Guide by Richard Hammer

I refer to this book several times a year to answer questions about how to treat various situations that arise. Richard Hammer is an Attorney and a CPA. His knowledge is vast and his information is thorough. I recommend this reference book to anyone responsible for church finance and accounting.

I also subscribe to Richard's monthly newsletter "Church Finance Today" which is a nice supplement to The Church and Clergy Tax Guide.

You can find these resources and more at churchlawtoday.com

Random Stuff

2008-08-28T15:14:00.003-04:00

I love music. Corey and I have similar taste in music. He reviewed the new Third Day called Revelation here. If Corey likes it, I'll probably like it. So, I'll check it out.

My friend Todd had some interesting comments about Freezing your Credit Report and your "Health Credit Report".

Wanna Save an easy $1,400 a year?

2008-08-27T09:43:00.005-04:00

Replace bottled water with Tap water. Article here. Interesting points from the article:

Typical American Consumer pays $1,400 per year for bottled water vs. 49 cents per year for the same amount of tap water
Blind taste tests show no difference in taste between the two.
Tap water has stricter safety measures
40% of bottled water sold in stores is tap water
Average price for 20 oz. bottle of water = $1.50. That puts bottled water at about $10.00 a gallon. And I thought gasoline was expensive! (at $10/gal. for bottled tap water shouldn't there be outrage at "Big Water"?)

I like to drink a lot of water. I admit that I do buy bottled water. But, the way I try to save money on bottled water is by using the bottle over and over again to fill it with tap water.

Finance Casual Q & A Session at Innovate

2008-08-27T09:30:00.006-04:00

I'll be hosting a Casual Q&A Session at Innovate on Thursday, September 18. This session is a casual atmosphere where we have the opportunity to ask questions and have dialogue about church finance and accounting.

In order to keep the atmosphere casual, the session is limited to 10 and registration is required. You can register for Innovate here. If you're registered for Innovate, you can register for the Finance Casual Q&A here.

Lone accountant takes on IRS and wins

2008-08-25T10:05:00.002-04:00

I saw this headline and had to read the article. A modern day David and Goliath. Chalk one up for the accountant. Way to go Charles!

What are Your Offering Procedures?

2008-08-25T09:24:00.003-04:00

Someone from another church was asking about our weekend offering policies and procedures. Although I didn't give them specific procedures, here are the guidelines that I gave them.

1. No less than 2 unrelated people (i.e. not husband and wife) are with the offering at any given time. We typically have ushers, security, and count team members around when the offering isn’t in the safe (maybe 3-5 people). Separate those who collect the offering and those who count and process it.

2. Secure the offering in a safe place when it isn’t being taken or counted. We use a safe that is bolted to the floor with a drop box on it and locked bank deposit bags.

3. Limit those with the safe combination to as few as possible. If possible, staff with access to the accounting system should not have access to the safe. This goes with #4. Keeps staff with access to the accounting system separated from access to cash, checks, etc. Currently, none of the accounting staff at GCC has access to the safe.

4. Separate the duties between those who process the cash, checks, etc. and those who have control over the Accounting System. This is where the volunteer count team helps us tremendously. None of us on staff, who have access to accounting records, have access to the cash because the count team processes the cash and check offering.

5. Create a process for counting and processing the offering so that everything gets counted accurately, separated into appropriate buckets (i.e. General Fund, Building Fund), and posted into accounting systems accordingly.

6. Check and double check. Then, reconcile. This is why we have one person on the count team count and a separate person check the count (both sign the count sheet). This is why we run a batch tape, enter the batch total, and then make sure that the individual items agree to the batch total. This is why our Accounting Team spends most of Monday reconciling all the count team sheets to F1 and then posting the totals to the General Ledger. This is why we reconcile Fellowship One to the General Ledger every month. Everything needs to balance.

7. Reconcile the bank statement to the General Ledger every month. This is a good control for several processes. For contributions it ensures that what was deposited was posted and what was posted was deposited.

8. If someone takes the offering to the bank, make sure there are 2 people who do it together. Otherwise, use an armored car pick up service. I recommend the armored car especially as offerings get larger.

These were the guidelines I thought of. Any that I missed or should be added?

What's the Most Asked Question?

2008-08-20T15:07:00.005-04:00

I get lots of questions from other churches about how we do things here at GCC. However, the most asked question is, "How do you do Online Giving?"

My first answer is always, "I love online giving!" But, the main reason that I love online giving is because of the tool we use to facilitate it. Our online giving is powered by Fellowship One or F1 which is our church management software.

Here are a few of the cool features of F1 Online Giving:

It's secure

It's donor directed

It's easy to connect to your web site

It allows weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. contribution schedules

It posts online donations to the donor's record automatically

It reduces check processing

It allows the use of any or all of credit card, debit card, eCheck(ACH) payment options

It's a great tool for online giving. If you're interested, give the folks at Fellowship Technologies a call.